Charleroi v FIFA case sent to EU's top court

CHARLEROI, Belgium, May 15 (Reuters) - A Belgian court on Monday referred a case taken against soccer's governing body FIFA by first division club Charleroi and the G14, representing 18 of Europe's richest clubs, to Europe's highest court.

Charleroi and the G14 will have to take their landmark case,
in which they are seeking compensation for a player injured
while playing for his country, to the European Court of Justice
in Luxembourg.

'The European Court of Justice is the only court that can
sufficiently decide this case, taking everything into account,'
Jean-Philippe Lebeau, president of the commercial tribunal in
the city of Charleroi, south of Brussels, said in the ruling.

A spokesman for the G14 told Reuters they were 'very happy'
with the decision.

'Our claim has always been that FIFA's rules were subject to
EU laws, but they refuted this claim. Our argument has now been
proved correct,' G14 lawyer, Jean-Louis Dupont told Reuters.

'This ruling is good for the game, we may at last get some
legal clarity.'

The last major case in football to be referred to the ECJ
also began in Belgium.

The 'Bosman ruling' was named after the landmark case
brought by Jean-Marc Bosman, which ended with players being
given the choice to move freely between clubs when out of
contract and increased player power enormously.

All sides must now deliver their arguments to the ECJ, most
likely before a hearing in a few months. 'A final decision will
probably take about a year,' Dupont said.

Significantly, this ruling now forces the European
Commission, the EU's executive arm to finally give its opinion.
The Commission is the guardian of the EU treaties and so far it
has remained on the fence, monitoring the case.

Just before the ruling, it was announced the man leading an
independent review into how football is run across the EU will
deliver his final report to British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso next week.

Former Portuguese deputy prime minister, Jose Luis Arnaut
will meet Blair in London next Monday before travelling to
Brussels on Tuesday to meet Barroso, sources close to the
situation told Reuters.

Essentially the review focused on whether soccer should be
accountable to EU laws or whether it should be treated as a
special case.

UEFA and most national associations view football as a
'social movement' while many clubs, in particular the wealthier
ones, want more power and see football as a business.